Mastery
by AlwaysSlytherine
Summary: Just how did Severus Snape become a Potions master? Ever wonder what it takes to become a Potions master, as opposed to being a potioneer?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimers: If you recognize it, it belongs to JKR and/or to Warner Brothers Entertainment. I make no money, nor any other sort of profit, from the writing of fan fiction, and do it merely for my own pleasure. I am extremely grateful that JKR permits us to borrow from her universe, and play with her characters for a while, pretty much as we like – but in the end, they must be returned to her (and/or to Warner Bros.), as must everything from her universe, since it all belongs to her (and/or to Warner Bros. Entertainment). The only creations of my own are my own characters, whom readers will easily know as "mine" because they do not appear in any of the books, movies, companion books, authorized merchandise or authorized websites; they only appear here in my fan fiction. And I hope that others will respect my creations as much as they respect JKR's, Warner Bros., and other authors' creations, and not use my characters, potions, ideas, and creative works without my express permission in writing. Thank you, and I truly hope you enjoy reading my work.

A/N: This story is set in 1979 – the year Severus Snape became a Death Eater and two years before James and Lily Potter lost their lives protecting baby Harry from Lord Voldemort's attack.

It is written in Canon, so far as I could – but Canon does not tell us how or when Professor Snape became a Potions master, it merely tells us when Severus Snape became a Professor at Hogwarts. I offer the tale of how he became a Potions master. Nothing in Canon tells us definitively if there is a difference between a "potions master" and a "potioneer" – but since there are two separate terms and the term "potioneer" is never used in Canon to describe Professor Snape, given my knowledge of apprenticeships and master craftsmen in the real world (historical and modern), I believe that there is, indeed, a difference, and that a "master" is the same as a medieval master who held membership in a guild, and that a "potioneer" is merely someone who is good at brewing potions, but who lacks the learning – and status – of a master. What further fuels my belief regarding this is the fact that there are two kinds of teachers at Hogwarts – those who have the term "Professor" conferred upon them, and those who do not (the latter always referred to as "Madame", such as Madame Hooch). Most of the teachers are "Professor So-and-So", and, presumably, have additional education (in their respective fields of expertise and, perhaps, also, in the field of education).

I have friends who are modern masters (both men and women) at certain old-fashioned crafts, and they have real apprentices (one woman is a blacksmith who owns a historical blacksmith shop in southern New Jersey and really has had a young man apprenticed to her for many years; another is a brewer and he has an apprentice, as well - and both of these masters know other modern American masters with apprentices). So, I have taken my own knowledge of medieval and modern apprenticeships, and extrapolated from the fact that the modern British Wizarding World as Canon reveals it is rather old-fashioned and behind the times (at least as they are here in the USA), and I've chosen to apply my knowledge – and educated guesswork – based upon societal studies I am aware of and have read, and Academia as I know it from many teaching family and friends in Academia.

So, I try to write the characters and their world as Canon portrays, but my tales do extend beyond Canon. I make every attempt to continue in Canon or as closely to Canon as possible. I hope that the ideas I write about might as easily have come from JKR's mind as my own. I hope that if JKR ever reads my tales, she would wonder how I knew what she'd had in her head for all these years.

I tell this tale to you just as Severus Snape himself (in Muse form) told it to me. So, if you think my writing, thinking or beliefs are harsh, bear in mind that you are judging Severus Snape, not me. I am merely the messenger. We have now established that this tale is not pure Canon; but is it true? Master Snape (as he prefers to be known, rather than as Professor) insists that it is the absolute truth, and can be verified by interrogation with Veritaserum… if you can catch him, bind him, and try it.

Chapter One

" _I'm a man, not a child! When is Master Otterbinde going to realize this and treat me accordingly? If he sends me on one more ridiculous errand for some tea, or a scone, or – Merlin! – to deliver something as if I were an owl, I may hex him right into next month! 'Apprentice, deliver this potion to Madam Prescott in Leicester,' or 'Lord Burke is wanting this immediately; deliver it forthwith, Apprentice.' Were not owls trained for this very purpose – to make deliveries? Master has a large owl perfectly suited to making deliveries, even of larger packages, and few owls can regularly beat Guarin's speedy turn-around time. He's known as one of the fastest, and most reliable, owls in Great Britain. So why does Master Otterbinde expect me to be his bloody errand-boy? I could better serve him in the Potions lab, brewing, and that would enable me to gain my own Mastery that much sooner. Of course, that is probably the reason; the sooner I answer my Mastery Challenges, the sooner my master must find himself another apprentice, and where is he going to find a Potioneer as good as I, or as quick a learner as I am? Given how young I am, he can keep me as his apprentice for years. And he probably will! He is hardly likely to find another apprentice with my skills unless it is a wizard with a dozen years more than I have, if at all. Indeed, I shall have to demand my Challenges, unless I wish to serve this master for many more years, and I know full well that I am capable of answering Mastery Challenges already! The Guild can't possibly refuse me, once I've successfully answered my Challenges and paid membership fees – could they? Could they? I want to move on in life. I want to serve the Dark Lord. I can do neither until I am free; I cannot serve two masters! I wonder which masters will stand up for me in the Guild? Lucius will surely provide assistance, should I need any, in making restitution to Master Otterbinde or payment of the Guild membership fees – won't he? He has promised this… only… how deeply in his debt will this place me?_ "

Once again, Severus Snape pondered the injustices of his young life – that the Guild system did not permit one sufficiently skilled to merely demand Mastery Challenges without first having given up many years of labor to a master who had absolutely no interest in furthering an apprentice's career; that he had been forced to accept an Apprenticeship with this Potions master, Ignatius Otterbinde, despite extraordinary skill with Potions, merely because he – Severus – had neither family social standing nor family money to attract a master with more ambition within the Potions Guild who would see that an outstanding apprentice quickly moved upwards in the Guild and in Wizarding society; that despite being a Prince, his mother had never able to wield the power that once belonged to the Prince family; that Professor Slughorn had never been interested in properly helping his unusually gifted pupil who was not popular, not good at ingratiating himself with the right sort of people, and whose family fortunes had been lost long ago. Severus Snape knew that life had always short-changed him – from birth to a truly horrible and abusive Muggle father and an unbelievably cowed mother of above-average magical skills, to his unfortunate physical appearance, to his ongoing bad luck to have been targeted for extreme bullying by those Marauder prats at Hogwarts, to Headmaster Dumbledore's never-ending failure to protect one lone Slytherin from the outrageous (and even near-lethal) pranks of that gang of Gryffindor bullies for seven very long years, to his own Head of House, Professor Slughorn's incredible willingness to turn a blind eye each and every time the same Slytherin pupil was callously ignored by the Headmaster and the rest of the staff at the school. Even upon his graduation, Horace Slughorn refused to put himself out one iota to help a student of his own House, one with what quite possibly might be the most talent in his own chosen career – Potions – that he'd ever seen in any of his students. Severus couldn't catch one single break, not unless he counted the fact that Malfoy, a mere few years older, took him under his wing. If not for Lucius Malfoy, Severus would have had no one to count as somebody to stand with him, to guard his back, when the worst happened; it was Lucius, and the small group of Slytherins he led, who befriended Severus. It was just too bad that Lucius – as well as Ernestus Nott, Evandros Rosier, Victorinus Crabbe and Gregorius Goyle – had already graduated the year before that near-deadly incident with the werewolf, Lupin, in the Shrieking Shack. But both Crispus Avery and Charlus Mulciber – who were in the same year as Severus – stood by him as his friends. If life would not give Severus Snape a lucky break, then he would make his own opportunity. Slytherin ambition was a good thing to possess.

The nineteen-year-old mentally shook himself out of his reverie; there were potions in the lab, in various stages, on which he had to check. He entered the Potions lab almost mindlessly, having done so multiple times, every day for the twelve months he'd been apprenticed to Master Otterbinde… looking over the benches, upon which stood several Potions in various stages, all under protective stases – some were merely curing, others were in hold-stases, and one – the Veritaserum – was merely maturing naturally, not even under stasis.

First, Severus compared the two small golden cauldrons standing adjacent to each other over tiny low flames that were bluish of color at their base and a hotter purple at the tips, the contents of both cauldrons smelling quite sweetly aromatic, with strong hints of a woodsy-herbal under-scent of an indescribable aromatic medicinal quality and a sharp minty hint – Elixir to Induce Euphoria. The standard recipe for this potion, according to Libatius Borage in his Advanced Potion-Making, was to begin by adding the diced shrivelfig to the basic reddish-brown potion, and adding the porcupine quills until the potion turned dark blue, letting it turn purple as it was stirred four times counter-clockwise, then adding the chopped sopophorous beans and stirring the potion counter-clockwise for another six times until it turned brown, and finally, the wormwood until it turned yellow, and to brew the potion with a good, solid Cheering Charm.

Severus, however, had discovered for himself, in his fifth year at Hogwarts, that he got far better results by starting the reddish-brown basic potion off first with a Cheering Charm, and then adding the shrivelfig – which he preferred to carefully squash down with the flat edge of his silver knife, to gain more of the juice more easily and thoroughly, and then to mince the shrivelfigs with the sharp blade of the same knife, before adding the minced shrivelfig (reserving the juice collected for a later stage in the brewing process) to the potion – and, as it turned turquoise first, and then went darker to an almost navy blue with stirring in the counter-clockwise direction. Further tweaking of the original recipe included changes to the order in which the potion's ingredients were added, the manner in which some of the ingredients were prepared, and timing – all of which had been a matter of trial and error to work out.

Although the potion merely required any porcupine quills, Severus only used porcupine quills that were guaranteed not to have injured anyone, despite the extra cost, because he knew that these guaranteed quills ensured the end result of a potion of much stronger and higher quality than if it were brewed with cheaper non-guaranteed quills. He only added the porcupine quills to his potion after it had turned a deep navy blue color, and then he stirred it four times counter-clockwise and let it simmer 'til it turned a dark purple. It took a while for the potion to turn a deep, dark purple – but patience when brewing potions was necessary, and the sooner that was learned, the better a potioneer one became; good potion-brewing could not be hastened!

Once the potion had finally gone dark purple, Severus added evenly-diced sopophorous beans – finding the end result of the potion to be better than if he used chopped sopophorous beans as Master Borage's recipe had called for – and then he let the potion simmer long enough to go brown, before he added the shrivelfig juice that he'd reserved, and he then stirred it clock-wise until the potion turned pink, and he continued to stir it until it turned a fairly bright pink, and only at that point did he stop stirring and this was the point at which Severus had ultimately discovered that casting a Cheering charm for the second time over the potion had made for an undeniably stronger potion of higher quality, a stronger sense of euphoria.

But this stronger potion did have the unintended and undesirable side affects of a greater likelihood that the drinker of the potion would suddenly and uncontrollably break out into song, or begin to tweak other people's noses, or – worse – do both! The often unhappy consequences of doing this to the wrong persons was something to be reckoned with, and further experimentation proved that the addition of a sprig of peppermint to the potion, immediately after the porcupine quills and been added and stirred in, and it had gone from navy to purple counteracted this excessive singing and nose-tweaking. It took the potion longer to go from navy blue to dark purple when the peppermint was added – but it was worth the extra time to wait, given the improvement of the potion overall.

The final addition of the wormwood to this new, improved potion recipe turned it orange (not the yellow of the original recipe), and it was necessary to once again let it simmer for much longer than originally necessary, for the potion to turn it's characteristic golden sunshine yellow color. The superior product that this new recipe produced, however, made the extra overnight of simmering necessary to complete the potion brewing cycle well worth the wait… and the fact that people were willing to pay far more (up to fifty percent more!) for Severus Snape's improved Elixir to Induce Euphoria than they paid for the original elixir was proof enough of that.

Libatius Borage's original recipe elixir simmered in stasis in the little golden cauldron on the left of it's twin cauldron that held Severus' improved elixir; close inspection of each showed Severus that the original elixir in the cauldron on the left was finished, but his own improved version was not quite finished and needed to simmer at least a few hours longer. And so, he waved his wand, putting out the small blue-based purplish-tipped flames underneath the left-hand little golden cauldron, allowing that potion to cool to room temperature. He'd bottle that later. The same flames underneath the little golden cauldron on the right, however, continued to flicker merrily, still keeping the contents of that cauldron at a slow simmer. Severus would return to check on this potion in a few more hours.

He next turned his attention to the line of small- and medium-sized pewter cauldrons under stasis with no flames underneath any of them. The Hiccupping Solution No. 13981 was ready to bottle and label; so was the antidote, Counter-Hiccupping Solution No. 18931. The Essence of Dittany Solution needed to simmer longer, as it was not yet brown. Nor were the Wound-Healing Potion yet purple, nor the Murtlap Essence yellow – so they, too, had to simmer longer. The Burn-Healing Paste was getting nicely thickened, and would soon be ready for jarring up and labeling. He flicked his wand sharply over that. He saw that the Pepperup Potion was quite finished and cooled, so he tapped that cauldron with his wand as he muttered the Counter-Curse to the Curse of the Bogies to complete that potion, and he levitated the cauldron over to the bottling and labeling bench on the far side of the lab, and set it down gently. Turning back to his inspection of the pewter cauldrons, he saw that the Cure for Boils was indeed the correct shade of blue, and that the pink smoke drifted up from the potion properly, and he completed this potion with a quickly-cast anti-jinx version of the Furnunculus jinx, and levitated this, as well, across the room to the bench where he would bottle and label the completed potions shortly.

Next stood the black cast iron cauldrons. Both his Swelling Solution and his Deflating Draft were ready for the spells to complete them; he cast those perfunctorily upon these potions, and then levitated these over to the far bench with the other completed potions. And on the inspection went, until Severus had examined each of the potions in the lab, and done what was necessary for each. Turning to the bench where he bottled, jarred, packaged and labeled completed potions, his thoughts continued along the same lines they had been following before his inspection.

" _Someday I shall do this in my own apothecary. It won't be in someone else's – not the Hogwarts Apothecary, not Master Otterbinde's lab, but my own, and I shall reap the profits of my own work, rather than labor ceaselessly for someone else's benefit! I may work just as hard then as I now work, but at least I shall be the sole wizard to profit from my labor, and no one shall tell me what to do or how it must be done. I shall create my own living as I please. My lab will be precisely as I think it should be, and I need not bend to anyone's will then. I will do things properly – not cut costs at the expense of quality, and my name will be known as assurance that no higher quality product can be found anywhere. Someday… But first, I must gain my Mastery, and admission to the Guild._ "

He picked up some parchment labels already cut and decoratively embellished, a pot of ink, and a quill, on his way to the far bench. He carefully wrote out the information on each label, and set it next to the proper cauldron, and covered the inkpot and set down the quill. Withdrawing his wand from his sleeve, he waved it wordlessly at a cupboard high above the height of his head, and magically summoned various bottles and jars, by size and shape, all in a procession line, and he watched with satisfaction as they landed softly on the bench top. Next, Severus carefully decanted each potion into the proper bottle or jar, and then sealed each with a sharp rap of his wand across the open mouths of the jars and bottles, and, in turn, each bottle cork and jar lid jumped into place, sealing it's bottle or jar closed. Satisfied, he then barely touched the tip of his wand to each label, one after the other, and affixed each label to its proper bottle or jar with a Sticking Charm. His work finished for the moment, he levitated each bottle into the cupboard that held finished potions, and then, with a wide flourishing swish motion, he sent the ink, quill, and unused labels back to their respective places.

" _A place for everything, and everything in its place,_ " Severus thought to himself. " _A lab, in particular, must be kept spotlessly clean and neat – too many things are apt to go wrong in a messy lab._ "

Satisfied that everything was in order, he stepped through the door, carefully closing it behind himself. That was when he heard Master Otterbinde's raised voice.

please read on to

Chapter Two next

A/N: Where Canon does not give the first names of certain characters, I have kindly given those characters names that I believe are most appropriate to what we do know about them from Canon. For example, if JKR's family trees state such a character's ancestor's first name, I have often conferred the same given name, a variant, or a similar one. I have tried to keep my OCs names in keeping with the British Wizarding World that JKR gave to us. I also tied such characters in with real modern Britain at times since even in JKR's British Wizarding World, wizards and witches have squib and muggle relatives. Despite being American, I have some first-hand knowledge of the UK of the 1990s, having spent much time working over there, in that decade. Therefore, many eagle-eyed Brits will recognize bits and glimpses of their world, their reality – especially the streets of London – in this tale. I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this story.


	2. Chapter 2

Mastery Chapter Two

A/N: If you recognize it, it belongs to JKR and/or to Warner Brothers Entertainment. I make no money, nor any other sort of profit, from the writing of fan fiction. The only creations of my own are my own characters, whom readers will easily know as "mine" because they do not appear anywhere except for my fan fiction. I hope that others will respect my creations as much as they respect JKR's, Warner Bros., and other authors' creations, and not use my characters, potions, ideas, and creative works without my express permission in writing.

Many thanks to my new beta, Tra8erse, who makes my work better.

Discerning readers familiar with London will begin to recognize a few Muggle references, but there is absolutely no correlation between the personalities and/or actions of any living or historical person(s) and the characters in this tale, and anything seemingly so suggested is pure fiction out of my own mind.

Likewise, Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland is real and historical, I am fairly sure that there are no magical connections there. I merely wished to locate Severus's master in northern England or Scotland (near Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and Godric's Hollow).

Any businesses in Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley that you recognize are JKR's. Any you don't recognize are my own creations. If I have somehow infringed upon a real Wizarding place by accident, the wizard(s) and/or witch(s) who own said legally protected business(es) may send me a cease-and-desist request via owl and, upon proof of said, I shall gladly make my apologies and the appropriate changes to this tale via return Bald Eagle. (I'm American.)

*** Chapter 2 ***

"Apprentice! Where are you, Apprentice? What can you be doing, when I have need of you?"

That last was spoken in a rather peevish tone of voice.

"I am down in your lab, Master," Severus replied smoothly, "I am on my way upstairs now."

With those words, Severus hastened up the stairs, and hurried to his master's side, hoping not to seem rushed. He preferred his master to think that his apprentice arrived at his side in good time, but not that he rushed in a panic to get there, as that would be undignified. It wasn't easy to strike a balance between seeming to hang on his master's every word and actually doing so, between seeming eager to please his master, but not giving up his own dignity either. Severus needed his master's approval, but he refused to kowtow to anyone – not even to his master, an older and old-fashioned one, who was not known for treating his apprentices as kindly as many younger and more modern masters did. Of course, while Severus often chafed under his master's treatment at times like these, he knew that there was really nothing major that he could seriously complain about regarding his treatment in general. Many apprentices had it far worse.

"Master," Severus said quietly, to gain the older attention, as soon as he stood beside him.

Ignatius Otterbinde turned his head to stare at his apprentice. After a few long moments, he extended his arm, and in his hand he held a rather large, ornate crystal bottle with a very ostentatious stopper decorated with glittering stones and small, fluffy feathers. It looked like it belonged on a boudoir dressing table – or so Severus imagined, although he really had no knowledge of what might belong on a lady's dressing table, as he knew no woman who owned a dressing table well enough to have ever seen one.

" _Merlin! Please don't ask me to deliver that… that thing… to some silly old woman! Oh, no – Worse, don't ask me to hand it to a younger woman who is equally silly. How humiliating might that be? Is there no end to the suffering I must accept at your hands, master? Dear g– !_ "

"Apprentice, please deliver this to – "

Severus never heard the rest of what his master said. He was filled with disbelief that this, too, would be forced upon him. He realized then that he had not heard to whom he must deliver the – the thing.

"Master? To whom must I – "

"Deliver it to Mr Borgin – at Borgin & Burkes – you know, in Knockturn Alley. And while you're there, Apprentice, do stop at the Apothecary and see if you can get some unicorn horns for me. Put it on my account."

Severus still disliked being treated as an owl, but a trip to Knockturn Alley certainly was not an unhappy surprise. He took the ornate bottle from his master's hand and quickly turned to leave. His master's voice stopped him before he could actually make it to the door, however.

"Apprentice – while you're there, why don't you stop in your favorite book shop and see if there isn't something you could use. That, too, can be charged to me."

Severus froze, spun on his heel, and stared in surprise at his master. Master Otterbinde rarely did anything purely out of kindness. Severus watched his master's face closely, trying to figure out what this unexpected bonus might mean. Ignatius Otterbinde merely gazed back at his apprentice's face, his own expression carefully neutral, giving nothing away to the young man he was mentoring. The older man knew his reputation as rather frugal – to a fault, and as rather cold and uncaring, although the latter wasn't quite true. He did care about preparing his apprentice well for a life as a Potions master, and the old master knew that his apprentice would someday be a great master, and a credit to the field and to the Guild. But he also knew that this young man was full of plans that would not help him along that road. Otterbinde had hoped to help his apprentice rid himself of those dangerous notions before he became a master and might not so easily listen to his old mentor. He also knew that his apprentice would not miss an opportunity to acquire valuable books. Perhaps that was one way to soften up his prickly apprentice, one way to gain a bit of esteem from the young man who never seemed to think much of, or to truly respect, his master. Certainly, the youth showed him proper respect, privately, as well as in public – yet it seemed to Otterbinde that that's all it was, just a show.

Severus knew that he wasn't going to be able to read anything else in his master's face, and so, he gave his mentor a small, yet genuine, smile and turned, mumbling something about a book he'd seen weeks ago and hoped had not yet been bought, right before sweeping out the door of his master's home. As soon as he was outside the garden gate, Severus Snape Disapparated with a very small _cracking_ sound.

Apparating with another tiny _crack_ into the perpetual twilight of Knockturn Alley, Severus quickly marched into Borgin and Burkes. Once the door slipped shut, Mr Borgin came out of seeming thin air to greet his customer, while simultaneously running his fingers through his oily light brownish hair, pushing it back out of his face.

"Mr Snape," he said unctuously, "How can I be of assistance to you today?"

"Master Otterbinde has asked me to deliver this to you."

He laid delicate stress on the word " _this"_ , and – as he uttered it – he reached into his cloak to pull out the large, ornate crystal bottle. Extending his arm towards Mr Borgin, Severus watched the old stooped shopkeeper's face closely and noticed a look of clear recognition in that deeply lined face. Not only was Borgin expecting this, he also clearly knew what it was – unlike Severus himself. He handed the bottle to Borgin quickly. Mr Borgin took it and, just as quickly, it vanished out of sight. Had Borgin slipped it into a pocket inside his robes? Or up his sleeve? Or underneath the counter? No matter, it really wasn't Severus' concern. His job was finished.

"Is there anything else I can help you with? Perhaps this – "

The old shopkeeper walked over to a shriveled severed hand lying on an over-stuffed velvet pillow, as he spoke, and gestured towards it with a flourish.

" – Hand of Glory? It will open any locked door. No charm, hex or any other magical means of lock will hold against the Hand of Glory, you know."

Seeing the pained look on the younger man's face, Borgin hurried to continue, before his customer could scoff or say "no". He knew that this young man was rumored to know as much about the Dark Arts as… well, perhaps as You-Know-Who did. He also knew that, as a young apprentice, and having come from poverty, Snape didn't have much money – but he also knew that he always found money for books, so he obviously had enough to pay for the things that he really wanted… or at least some of them. The trick would be to gain Snape's interest, and then offer him store credit, against his master's account, just in case the young man truly was unable to pay.

"I'm sure you also know that if you insert an unlit candle into the Hand of Glory, young man, and you hold it, it will shed light that only you can see by, even in total darkness," Borgin said, in a rush, "Surely that will be useful to you some day?"

"I – Ah, I think not. I must be – " Severus said with a hint of a sneer.

As his customer moved towards the door, Borgin made one last attempt.

"There are plenty of other unique artifacts here," he said, "Surely some of them will be useful to you."

"I am sure there are," Severus replied, turning to face the shopkeeper, "but today is not the day for that."

Severus' tone was final, while still respectful, and Borgin knew he wasn't going to sell anything to the young potioneer today, but he also knew that he would surely make a sale to the brooding young man some other day. It was better to keep a young – and potentially important – customer content and willing to return without any feeling of discomfort. So Mr Borgin bowed to Snape, and bid him a good day, watching as the young man left his shop and walked straight ahead in the direction of Diagon Alley.

On his way down the narrow, winding street, Severus was inwardly amused. He knew full well that Mr Borgin considered him a prime future customer. He intended to wait until he needed something from the interesting shop, and then he'd test the old shopkeeper's interest in appeasing him, especially if what he wanted or needed at the time was expensive.

Taking the sharp turn to the left, and walking quickly through the exceptionally darkened curve, Severus reached the end of the road, and stepped into Diagon Alley.

He stood directly across from Gringotts and paused. To his left was Second-Hand Robes and one of the used book shops – the smaller one that often had more interesting books, if one was willing to search every dark nook and cranny of the tiny place – Foyled, Severus' favorite used book shop; to his immediate right was the other, larger second-hand book shop – The Lost Word – that stood next to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and further down were Slug & Jiggers Apothecary, and directly across the street, Potage's Cauldron Shop. Severus really wanted to go to the Foyled first, to see if that book he had been wanting for a while was still there.

He finally decided that if he went to the left first, and finished his business on that end of Diagon Alley, he could then make his way towards the other end, do his business there, and then stop for a drink at The Leaky Cauldron, as the pub was to the right, all the way at the far end of the road. He could Apparate back to Banff, to Master Otterbinde's home, after that.

please read on to

Chapter Three next


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